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Help fill the gap, Texas
By donateblood in donateblood
January 29, 2010

CA Donor Registry Reaches 6 Million, Largest in the United States, reads the headline of an article from the California Chronicle.

California has claimed the title for the state with the most registered tissue, organ and cornea donors with 6 MILLION people willing to donate. “Since the Donate Life California Registry was introduced in April 2005, more than 900 lives have been saved through organ donation and up to 30,000 more have been healed through tissue donation from donors who had signed up on the registry,” the story continues. Click here to read the full story.

Meanwhile, Texas, a state with more than 24 million people, has a little over 538,000 registered. I realize California is a huge state, but Texas has a pretty large population too. And given the nationwide shortage of tissue, organs and corneas for transplantation, Texas can make a big difference in filling the gap between the number of donors and recipients. Here are some educational facts that can help in your willingness to donate:

• A single tissue donor can enhance the lives of more than 50 people.

• Most mainstream, organized religions approve of tissue donation and consider it an act of charity.

• No costs directly related to tissue, organ or eye donation are passed on to the donor family.

• Registering, placing a donor sticker on your drivers license and talking to your family about your wish to donate is the best way to ensure your wishes are carried out.

• A common misconception is if a person is involved in an accident and his doctor knows he is a registered donor, the doctor will not try hard to save his life. Tissue recovery only takes place after all efforts to save the person’s life have been exhausted and the person has been declared legally dead.

• Donation does not disfigure the body or change the way it looks at end-of-life ceremonies.

• Once donated, some tissue can last five years before being transplanted.

• Registering is easy. Just fill out a short questionnaire at www.donatelifetexas.org.

• Choosing to donate your tissue, organs and corneas is a way to leave a lasting legacy of helping others in need.

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